


forgiveness

by danidabbadoo



Series: love hurts [1]
Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, M/M, Spoilers for Act 2, Spoilers for Erik’s character arc, the only reason it’s rated T is because there is cursing during one scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 14:29:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17143487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danidabbadoo/pseuds/danidabbadoo
Summary: As El ran down to the bottom of the ship, he feared monsters had stowed away. He was preparing himself for a fight as the rummaging became louder. Bursting through the doors, he was shocked to see a hooded figure munching their food stocks. El smiled as he recognized the familiar green hood. It was Erik. He had finally found him.





	forgiveness

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this is my first work on here. Sorry it’s really short. I want to post longer stories here later on. It’s not edited so sorry for grammar mistakes.  
> But anyway, this story contained spoilers for Act 2 in Dragon Quest XI, especially about Erik’s arc. You have been warned!  
> The Luminary’s name is El.  
> All right, hope you like it!

As El ran down to the bottom of the ship, he feared monsters had stowed away. He was preparing himself for a fight as the rummaging became louder. Bursting through the doors, he was shocked to see a hooded figure munching their food stocks. El smiled as he recognized the familiar green hood. It was Erik. He had finally found him. 

Happy tears welled up in El’s eyes as he called, “Erik!” If he was being completely honest, he had missed Erik the most. He loved him, after all. 

The rest of his friends burst into the room as Erik dropped the food, stood, and turned around in a panic. His hood fell down and his shocking blue hair and beautiful eyes appeared. He stared at El, his eyes shifting uneasily to the sword strapped to his back, and backed up a few paces as he looked around at his friends. Frowning, El wondered why he seemed so frightened. 

El thought back to the last time they saw each other. Erik had clutched at him, holding him protectively to his chest as El suffered the affects of having his Luminary power ripped from him. He remembered Erik yelling his name as everything went dark. Was Erik scared he was a ghost?

Before El could say anything else, Sylvando gasped, “Erik, honey, is that you?”

“I’m… I’m sorry!” Erik cried, bowing below them. “I was just… I hadn’t eaten in days, and… and I saw you guys loading food onto your boat so I…”

El was confused, and saw his companions wore similar unsure expressions. What was he apologizing for? They were looking for him, and El was sure Sylvando had no problem sharing his food with Erik.

“Erik, laddie, what are ye apologizin’ for? We’ve been lookin’ everywhere for ye!” Rab said kindly. 

Erik looked up in confusion, asking, “Looking for me? You know me?”

El felt his stomach drop, and it wasn’t because of seasickness this time. Erik didn’t remember them. Erik didn’t remember El. He didn’t remember how he saved El’s life after they escaped from Helidor. He didn’t remember the awkward sexual tension in the baths in Hotto. He didn’t remember how hard El hugged him after he was rescued from Jasper in Gondolia. He didn’t remember El’s whispered confession that he couldn’t lose someone he loved again. He didn’t remember how they kissed in the moonlight in the back of the Salty Stallion, hidden away from the others. He didn’t remember how much they loved one another. 

El was pulled from his spiraling thoughts by a firm grip on his shoulder. His panicked eyes darted to Jade, who squeezed his shoulder comfortingly as Rab spoke again. 

“Of course we do, laddie! We were travelin’ together for quite a bit of time before Yggdrasil fell,” he said. Frowning, he continued, “Do ye not remember us?”

Erik shook his head sadly, “No, I’m sorry. I barely remember anything from before Yggdrasil fell. I know my name is Erik and that I had something important to do, but that’s it.”

Stepping toward Erik, El reached out to his face only for Erik to flinch away. Even though El knew in the back of his mind that it was completely understandable in this situation, the action felt like a punch to the gut. “Erik… you don’t remember me?” 

Erik looked at him fearfully, sending a stab of pain through his chest. “No.” 

Feeling the sting of tears in his eyes, El shook his head and rushed out of the room. Why did the world hate him so fucking much? He had suffered through so much already. This was unnecessarily cruel: to be reunited with his love only for him not to remember him. He was so glad Erik was alive, but fuck. Why couldn’t the universe just let them be together?

—

Erik watched the strange guy with beautiful hair rush out of the room. Seeing the tears in his eyes made him unusually upset. He felt like he must do whatever it takes to make that guy happy. 

“I’m sorry, laddie,” the small man spoke, drawing Erik’s attention. “Ye have to forgive him. Ye and him… ye were close.”

“That’s an understatement,” the gorgeous girl smirked, crossing her arms. “You guys were gross.” Erik lifted an eyebrow. Gross?

The tall man in a jester costume tutted, shaking head, “Now, now, Jade. Let’s not overwhelm the poor boy.” Turning his head to Erik, he said, “I am the great Sylvando. This hunk,” he gestured to the tall man in armor who rolled his eyes at the description, “is Hendrik. The other two are Jade and Rab. The poor darling that just ran out is named El. Now, Let’s make sure you’re all nice and fed.” 

As Sylvando pulled him up and escorted him over to the food, he looked around in confusion, “So… so I can stay with guys?”

“Oh, of course, honey!” Sylvando exclaimed. “You’re always welcome on the Salty Stallion!”

“The… what?”

“He means the boat, laddie,” Rab supplied helpfully. 

“Oh.”

As Sylvando pushed Erik toward more food, the man called Hendrik excused himself to go check on El. Turning to Sylvando, Erik asked around a piece of bread, “Is he gonna be all right?” 

“Oh, honey, don’t talk with your mouth full,” Sylvando flinched. “It’s disgusting.”

Erik gulped down his bite, “Sorry. I asked if El will be all right.”

Sitting down on a nearby box, Jade answered, “He’ll be fine. He’s tough. He’s… He’s been through worse things.”

For some reason, the thought of El hurting made Erik furious. Just who was this guy?

—

As El lifted his hand from the Yggdrasil root, Erik’s eyes filled with tears as his memories came rushing back to him. He clenched his fists as he remembered that he forced himself to forget everything about El, his friends, and their mission because he couldn’t bare the pain of losing them and failing the world. First he abandoned his little sister and now his friends. He abandoned his lover. How could he be so selfish? 

El turned to look at him, but Erik couldn’t meet his eyes. He was so ashamed of everything he had done. He was a lowly coward and he didn’t deserve to look upon the precious, kind, caring, gorgeous, and selfless Luminary. That’s what he told himself, at least. But, truly, he didn’t think he could handle seeing the certain disappointment in El’s eyes. 

“Erik?” El asked hesitantly, his voice lighter than Erik expected. 

“I’m sorry,” Erik croaked out as the first tear slid down his red cheek. He wished he could say his blush was because of he cold, but it was just physical evidence of how ashamed he was. Crying in front of all of them was even more embarrassing. He could feel all his friends’ eyes on him and it made him want to hide in a dark corner and never leave the shadows again. He truly was a coward. “I am so sorry. I…” he hiccuped, “I chose to forget everything. My sister, you guys, our journey… I thought I had lost all of you and I couldn’t handle losing everything important to me again. So I…” He desperately wished he had to courage to look up at El, but he still couldn’t. “So I ran. I ran away from everything because I was scared of the pain. I abandoned you guys and our mission and I am so, so sorry.” 

Silence echoed in the chamber for few painful moments. Erik’s sniffles were quiet, but they sounded like roars in his ears. Suddenly, Erik heard the crunch of a boot from in front of him and he looked up, startled, as El enveloped him in a hug. 

“I forgive you,” he whispered into Erik’s hair, tightening his grip on his shoulders. “I am so glad to have you back.” Erik sobbed as he clutched the back of El’s coat. Forgiveness… this was what he had been searching for all along, wasn’t it? The Seer said that if he stuck with the Luminary, he would achieve the forgiveness he desired. This was too good to be true. He didn’t deserve this. 

“I’m glad to be back,” Erik laughed, a little hysterically, into El’s shoulder as El started to tangle his hand in Erik’s hair. “I was crazy to forget you guys.”

Smiling, El let go of Erik’s shoulders to cup his face and wipe away his tears with his thumbs. “It’s okay. It’s in the past now.” El looked down for a moment, a haunted look passing through his eyes before glancing up again. “Something I learned early on after Yggdrasil fell is that we can’t focus on the past. We need to focus on the present because we can’t change the past, but we can save to future.” Erik just nodded as a small smile made its way to his lips. His boyfriend always knew what to say. 

“And to be honest,” Sylvando’s loud voice said, breaking through their quiet moment and startling the both of them away from each other, “causing amnesia purposefully is honestly an understandable response to the end of the world.”

Jade nodded, “To be fair, it was probably a defense mechanism in your brain. You didn’t abandon us, Erik.”

Shaking his head and wiping his tears, he said, “Maybe I didn’t abandon you, but I did abandon my little sister.” He looked toward the gold stain on the floor where the gold statue of his sister once stood. “I know I have no right to ask this of you guys, and there are probably more important things we should be doing, but can you help me get my sister back?”

Lacing their fingers together, El smiled, “Erik, you don’t even need to ask.” Erik grinned in response and leaned forward to kiss his love for the first time months. 

“Ew, gross!” Jade exclaimed teasingly, pretending to barf. 

Shaking his head with a smile, Rab started walking toward the exit with Hendrik. “C’mon lovebirds!” he called. “We’ve got work to do!”


End file.
